More than one week after Athletic Director Bill Moos announced the resignation of Jody Runge, some faculty members believe the situation is still not resolved.
Many say the process that led to Runge’s resignation was handled poorly, and more information needs to be released for the community to form an educated opinion.
“It’s hard to have a clear response without knowing all the facts,” said James Earl, an English professor.
Earl, who is also president of the University Senate, said that without knowledge of the contents of the report by the investigating firm, he will not be able to make a decision as to whether Runge was treated fairly.
He also questioned the need for the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King to become involved.
“The whole town wants to know why the athletic director couldn’t do it himself,” he said.
Del Hawkins, a marketing professor at the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, said he was not impressed by what he saw of the process. He said it became unnecessarily difficult for everyone involved, including players and coaches.
There has been speculation in the community that Runge may have lost her job because of her tendency to speak out, but faculty members who were interviewed said they believe these are just unfounded rumors and had nothing to do with her resignation.
“My best guess is she didn’t lose her job because she spoke up for women’s athletics,” Ellis said. “I think she lost her job because at the end of the day, she didn’t do her job.”
Art professor Laura Alpert said common courtesy was breached when Moos made the news of the investigation public before discussing it with Runge.
“I’m very concerned of the fact that it was a personnel matter that was first brought out in a newspaper,” she said.
However, there are those who believe the situation was handled in a professional manner.
“The process seems to be handled well, in that they didn’t do anything precipitous,” said economics professor Christopher Ellis.
Richard Sundt, a professor of art history, said there is an absolute need to release the report because he believes public money was used to pay Runge’s compensation and the law firm.
“They need to level with how much this costs us,” he said. “I think everyone is owed some kind of explanation.”
Earl said he supports the public release of information concerning the investigation.
“I don’t understand how the report can’t be released, since we are a public university,” he said.